Patterico's Pontifications

10/23/2016

Sunday Night Music: Long Ryders: Lights of Downtown (Acoustic)

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:31 pm



A new version of a classic song. Worth your time.

Court Overturns Refugee’s Conviction for Raping 10-Year-Old Boy, Saying . . . Maybe He Consented!

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 3:00 pm



Why do people think throwing the doors open to tens of thousands of Muslim refugees without adequate screening might be a problem? Exhibit A:

An Iraqi refugee who was jailed after claiming it was a sexual emergency when he raped a boy in a swimming pool has had the sentence overturned.

An appeal court accepted the defence lawyer’s claim that the lower court had not done enough to ascertain whether or not the rapist had realised the schoolboy was saying no.

The attacker, identified as 20-year-old Iraqi migrant Amir A., had been treated to a trip to the Theresienbad pool in December 2015 as part of the integration process.

He had also been provided with a 15-year-old helper and translator who was supposedly teaching him how to integrate into life in Vienna.

At the pool, Amir A. dragged the schoolboy, aged ten, into the changing rooms where he locked the door and violently sexually assaulted him, leaving him in need of urgent treatment at a local children’s hospital. The boy is still plagued by massive post-traumatic stress disorder.

. . . .

Amir A., who had worked in Iraq as a taxi driver, was still clothed in swimwear when handcuffed. He confessed to the rape, saying he knew it was wrong but did it anyway because it was a “sexual emergency” as he did not had sex for four months.

The Sunday Express reports how severe the child’s injuries were:

The child suffered severe anal injuries which had to be treated at a local children’s hospital, and is still plagued by serious post-traumatic stress disorder.

This case is so outlandish, it makes you wonder how it can really be happening. However, this is not an isolated incident; the huge influx of Muslim refugees into Europe from war-torn parts of the Arab world has already led to sexual assaults and efforts to mainstream deviant behavior, so as not to denigrate the refugees. This is not only dangerous; it’s also condescending. Leftists are not likely to be concerned with either problem, though.

If there’s any story that explains why some people (not me) want to vote Trump, it’s stories like this.

[Cross-posted at RedState.]

Video: Saturday Night Live Does the Third Debate

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 2:03 pm



Early on in this clip, they make a crack to this effect: you may not want to watch this debate…but hey, you’ve come this far.

That’s kind of how I feel about this clip. It may not be as good as the others, but neither was the third debate — and you watched that, right?

(Oh, you didn’t? Well…)

[Cross-posted at RedState.]

Government Screws Up, Makes Soldiers Pay For It. Literally.

Filed under: General — Dana @ 10:30 am



[guest post by Dana]

The military screws up and makes soldiers pay for their mistakes, which is hard to understand because debt forgiveness and bailouts by our government seems to be all the rage these days:

Short of troops to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan a decade ago, the California National Guard enticed thousands of soldiers with bonuses of $15,000 or more to reenlist and go to war.

Now the Pentagon is demanding the money back.

Nearly 10,000 soldiers, many of whom served multiple combat tours, have been ordered to repay large enlistment bonuses — and slapped with interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens if they refuse — after audits revealed widespread overpayments by the California Guard at the height of the wars last decade.

It gets worse:

Investigations have determined that lack of oversight allowed for widespread fraud and mismanagement by California Guard officials under pressure to meet enlistment targets.

Instead of letting this go and forgiving the debts because it was not the fault of those who believed what they were being told, the soldiers must pay back the money. And let’s face it, $15,000 – $25,000 for most Americans is not a piddly amount of money.

While the betrayal is unbelievable, the excuses made for treating veterans this way are all too believable. Gosh darn, what just a shame that everyone’s hands are tied:

“At the end of the day, the soldiers ended up paying the largest price,” said Maj. Gen. Matthew Beevers, deputy commander of the California Guard. “We’d be more than happy to absolve these people of their debts. We just can’t do it. We’d be breaking the law.”

Read the whole thing. It’s infuriating to read the personal accounts of veterans who have been so worn down by the red tape process to fight this that they have resigned themselves to paying back the bonuses. It’s almost as if the system is intended to have this eventual outcome.

A White House petition has been set up here that you can sign if you are so inclined. And as always in these cases, call your congress person or representative and make some noise.

If this isn’t a travesty and fight that Americans ought to be willing to get involved with, what is?

–Dana


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